NEWSLETTER OF THE BIOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA (TERRESTRIAL ... · 2 Newsletter of the Biological Survey of Canada (Terrestrial Arthropods) Vol. 22, No. 1 3 The 2002 joint annual meeting

Spring 2003 Vol. 22, No. 1

NEWSLETTER OF THE BIOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA(TERRESTRIAL ARTHROPODS)

Table of Contents

General Information and Editorial Notes..................................... (inside front cover)News and Notes

Spread your word.....................................................................................................1Label data brief translated .......................................................................................1Biodiversity research website ..................................................................................1Benthic invertebrate monitoring ...............................................................................1Activities at the Entomological Societies’ meeting ...................................................2Summary of the Scientific Committee meeting ........................................................4

The Quiz Page.............................................................................................................11Project Update: Insects of Keewatin and Mackenzie ..............................................12Web Site Notes ...........................................................................................................14Opinion Page: The real costs of insect identifications...........................................15Database of People Interested in Terrestrial Arthropods updated ........................18Arctic Corner

Arctic research notes .............................................................................................19Funding for arctic studies.......................................................................................20

Selected future conferences .....................................................................................22Answers to Faunal Quiz.............................................................................................24Quips and Quotes.......................................................................................................25List of Requests for Material or Information............................................................26Cooperation Offered...................................................................................................32List of Email Addresses .............................................................................................32List of Addresses .......................................................................................................34Index to Taxa...............................................................................................................36

Vol. 22, No. 1 1

General InformationThe Newsletter of the Biological Survey of Canada (Terrestrial Arthropods) appears twice yearly. All material without other accreditation is prepared by the Secretariat for the Biological Survey.

Editor: H.V. DanksHead, Biological Survey of Canada(Terrestrial Arthropods)Canadian Museum of NatureP.O. Box 3443, Station “D”Ottawa, ON K1P 6P4Tel. 613-566-4787Fax. 613-364-4022Email: [email protected]

Queries, comments, and contributions to the Newsletter are welcomed by the editor. Deadline for material for the Fall 2003 issue is July 14, 2003.

Editorial NotesThe Biological Survey of Canada (Terrestrial Arthropods) develops and coordinates national initiatives in taxonomic and ecological entomology on behalf of the Cana-dian Museum of Nature and the Entomological Society of Canada. The Newsletter communicates information about systematic and faunistic entomology that may be of interest in Canada, and reports especially on activities relevant to the Biological Survey.

This newsletter will also be available soon on the Survey’s website at:

http://www.biology.ualberta.ca/bsc/bschome.htm

Vol. 22, No. 1 1

News and NotesSpread your word

This newsletter has a circulation of 462, fol-lowing a recent focussing of the circula-

tion list associated with an update of the Sur-vey’s database of personnel. 438 recipients are individuals and the remainder are institutional libraries. Most subscribers (348) are in Cana-da, 55 reside in the U.S.A. and the balance (59) live in a variety of other foreign countries. In-dustry standards suggest that up to four people will read a single copy of a periodical. In ad-dition, this newsletter is posted on the Survey website and therefore has the potential to reach many more people.

Your message could reach those people if you contribute an item for a future newsletter.

•This issue introduces a new section called the Opinion Page which is a forum for views and ideas of potential interest. See p. 15 for Steve Marshall’s take on addressing the costs (societal and otherwise) of developing the tools needed to make insect identifications simple and accurate.

Other types of contributions welcomed include:

•Longer articles about any aspect of sys-tematic and faunistic entomology in Canada

•Short news items, announcements, de-scriptions of new publications or websites of interest to readers (News and Notes)

•News about studies of arctic insects (Arctic Corner)

•Announcements of future conferences, congresses, and annual meetings of interest to readers (Selected future conferences)

Please send submissions to the editor (see inside front cover).

Benthic Invertebrate Monitoring

The EMAN Coordinating Office has been working with several organizations to im-

plement a pilot project in 2003 on standardized aquatic invertebrate monitoring using a tiered aquatic invertebrate monitoring approach, employing standardized collection, data stor-age and analysis methods. A tiered approach will harmonize an educational component, the rapid bio-assessment approach, the Canadian Aquatic Bio-monitoring Network approach, and a rigorous biodiversity assessment ap-proach. An assessment of other provincial and territorial aquatic invertebrate monitoring pro-grams is currently being conducted. Contact [email protected] for more information.

Biodiversity Research Website

The Biodiversity group at the Northern For-estry Centre, Canadian Forest Service, Ed-

monton is pleased to announce the launch of their new Biodiversity Research Website. The site describes the Centre’s work in systematics and diagnostics, faunistics, insect ecology and management, effects of forest structure, and effects of forest practices. Information is also available on the arthropod collection and on the staff and their publications. The site is at http://nofc.cfs.nrcan.gc.ca/biodiversity/

Label data brief translated

The brief ‘Label Data Standards for Terres-trial Arthropods’ published in 2001 in re-

sponse to concerns about the variable quality of the information on specimen labels and the standards for the labels themselves was recent-ly translated into French.

The text of ‘Normes d’étiquetage pour les arthropodes terrestres’ is now avail-able on the Survey’s website. See http://www.biology.ualberta.ca/bsc/french/frbriefs.htm. Paper copies (in limited quanti-ties) will soon be available from the Survey Secretariat.

2 Newsletter of the Biological Survey of Canada (Terrestrial Arthropods)

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The 2002 joint annual meeting of the Ento-mological Society of Canada and the En-

tomological Society of Manitoba took place in Winnipeg 5–9 October 2002. The meeting was attended by more than 200 people. Many stu-dent members attended and there were 27 en-trants for the student paper competition. Items in the program or associated with it included:

A plenary session in accordance with the meeting theme of Insects and humans: confrontation and coexistence.

Symposia on “Human impacts on forests: conse-quences for human populations”, “Crops as new habitats for insects: canola as a case study”, “Biological control and native flora and fauna”, “Pheromones: understanding the chemical lan-guage of insects”, “Illuminating the ‘green box’: challenges in quantifying the impact of insect her-bivores”, “Arthropods of Canadian grasslands: ecology and interactions in grassland habitats”, and “Practical problems when implementing bi-ological control”.

Workshops on “North American dragonflies” and “Delia species as pests of crops in Canada”.

Submitted papers in three sessions.

A student paper competition, in three sessions, for the President’s prize of the Entomological Society of Canada.

An extensive poster session.

The ESC Heritage Lecture, given by Dr. Dan Johnson, entitled “The history of grasshopper out-breaks and research in Canada”.

The ESC Gold Medal Address given by Dr. Bob Lamb.

Governing Board and Annual General Meetings also took place, the Gold Medal and other honours were awarded, and there were many opportunities for informal exchange of information, including an opening mixer and a banquet.

The Survey’s grasslands symposium

The symposium on “Arthropods of Ca-nadian grasslands: ecology and interactions in grassland habitats”, organized by Dr. Terry

Wheeler on behalf of the Survey’s grasslands project, was well attended. It illustrated the range of grasslands and the many questions that are of interest about the insect faunas of these habitats, especially their ways of life and their interactions with other elements there.

Attributes of Canada’s diverse grasslands. J.D. Shorthouse

Trophic guilds of higher Diptera in xeric Yukon grass-lands. T.A. Wheeler, S. Boucher

Spiders (Araneae) collected in a tallgrass prairie in southern Manitoba and their importance to prairie conservation. D. Wade

The use of fire as a biodiversity and conserva-tion management tool on tallgrass prairie. R.E. Roughley

Ponds in prairie habitats: a changing dynamic illus-trated by predaceous water beetles. M. Alperyn

Temporal changes in the grasshopper (Orthoptera: Acrididae) fauna of Alberta grassland, in re-sponse to fire, weather and vegetation changes. D.L. Johnson

Abstracts of these papers are posted on the Survey’s website at: http://www.biology.ualberta.ca/bsc/english/grasssymposium.htm

Papers on systematics and related themes

The following titles include some of the papers of faunal interest that were presented in various other scientific sessions, including posters. (Interesting treatments on a range of other subjects also were presented in the vari-ous sessions.)

Assessing the impacts of global climate change on forest insects. J.A. Logan, J. Régnière, J.A. Powell

Can butterflies be used as reliable indicators of di-versity at the site and landscape level in man-aged spruce and pine forests? R. Westwood, N.J. Holliday

Abundance of Lygus bugs in canola grown adjacent to alfalfa. H. Cárcamo, J. Gavloski, J. Soroka, J. Otani

Activities at the Entomological Societies’ meeting

http://www.biology.ualberta.ca/bsc/english/grasssymposium.htm

http://www.biology.ualberta.ca/bsc/english/grasssymposium.htm


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The effect of plant-insect interactions on interspe-cific competition within a component commu-nity of phytophagous insects. M.L. Crowe, R.S. Bourchier

Recruitment of natural enemies to an introduced bark beetle. N. Rudzik, S.M. Smith

Nontarget effects of host-specific biological con-trol agents on native species. D.E. Pearson, Y.K. Ortega, K.S. McKelvey, L.F. Ruggiero, R.M. Callaway

Community level effects of burn season (spring, sum-mer, fall) on the spider (Araneae) fauna of tall-grass prairie in southern Manitoba. D. Wade

Complexity of component communities associated with a stem gall on wild roses among geographic gradients in Northern Ontario. S. Offman

Non-target effects in biological control: a food web approach. J. Memmott

Biological control of the winter moth (Operophtera brumata) in Canada: interaction between intro-duced parasitoids and generalist predators. J. Roland

Non-target risk assessment in classical biological control of arthropods: the perspective of a practi-tioner. U. Kuhlmann

Impact of an introduced scolytid on its native com-petitor and natural enemy complex; can identify-ing a ‘predator gap’ help justify classical biocon-trol? S. Smith

Post-release revelations on the host range of a root weevil. R. De Clerck-Floate

Gene flow between genetically divergent populati ons of Pissodes strobi. R. Laffin, D. Langor, F. Sperling

Thinning the boreal forest: do bark beetles benefit? C. M. Simpson, M.L. Reid

Tracking diversity patterns in boreal forest succes-sion with beetle trophic guilds. P. Paquin

Diversity of saproxylic beetles along a forest succes-sional pathway: from wildfire to old-growth to harvesting. J. Jacobs, J. Spence

Effect of regeneration type on the ecological diver-sity of carabid beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae) in black spruce forests (Picea mariana) in eastern Manitoba. L. Capar, A.R. Westwood

Effects of Mimic® (tebufenozide) applications on the diversity of non-target Lepidoptera in Manitoba’s boreal forests. D.E. Saunders, A.R. Westwood

Comparing the diversity of carabid beetle popula-tions (Coleoptera: Carabidae) in burned and har-vested aspen-dominated forest stands in western Manitoba. J.K. Shaddock, A.R. Westwood

Carabids in tall fescue forage grass and response to different nutrient inputs. D.A. Raworth, M.C. Robertson, S. Bittman

Habitat composition versus habitat structure: evaluat-ing coarse filter strategies for maintaining inverte-brates in boreal forests. T.T. Work, J.R. Spence, J. Volney, K. Cryer

Lice (Phthiraptera) infesting Manitoba’s provin-cial bird, the great gray owl, Strix nebulosa. T.D. Galloway

Blow flies associated with pig carcasses in Nova Scotia. D.B. Strongman, G. Simpson, H.N. LeBlanc

Larval morphology of the Hygrobiidae (Coleoptera: Adephaga: Dytiscoidea) with phylogenetic con-siderations. Y. Alarie, R.G. Beutel

Application of molecular tools for conservation: the case of blink Cicurina (Araneae: Dictynidae) from Texas caves. P. Paquin, M.C. Hedin

Dispelling myth and hyberbole: the distribution and relative abundance of two invasive funnel-web spiders, Tegenaria agrestis and T. duellica (Araneae, Agelenidae) in Canada and the United States. R.S. Vetter, A.H. Roe, R.G. Bennett, C.R. Baird, L.A. Royce, W.T. Lanier, A.L. Antonelli, P.E. Cushing

The relative abundance of native coccinellids in Manitoba before and after the appearance of the seven-spotted lady beetle (C7), Coccinella sep-tempunctata L. I.L. Wise, W.J. Turnock

The spatial dynamics of a host-parasitoid community. B.H. Van Hezewijk, J. Roland

Lygus spp. (Heteroptera: Miridae) as a pest of buck-wheat in Manitoba. B. G. Elliott, I. Wise

Dragonflies: Flagships of Canada’s wetlands. P.S. Corbet

The dragonflies of northern British Columbia: field surveys, collections development, conservation and public education. R. Cannings


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Alberta Odonata: a growing fauna, and a growing in-terest. J. Acorn

Odonata in Manitoba: diversity and transition. B. Elliott

Acquisition and management of data on Odonata for conservation study. P.M. Brunelle

Dragonflies at the edges: studies of Odonata along the PEI coast and some northern rivers. D.J. Giberson, M. Dobrin

The parasitoid guild of Delia radicum in cano-la in the Canadian Prairies and Europe. K.S. Hemachandra, N.J. Holliday, U. Kuhlmann

Biological control of orchard leafrollers using indige-nous parasitoids. J.E. Cossentine, E.K. Deglow, L.B.M. Jensen

Identification of parasitoids from Lygus spp. in Saskatchewan. M. Ashfaq, M. Erlandson, L. Braun

Phylogeny of Aphis L. species (Hemiptera: Aphididae) using microsatellite flanking region sequences. R. Foottit, E. Maw, R. Barrette

Parasitic wasps (Hymenoptera) of filth flies (Diptera: Muscidae) in dairies in Ontario and Quebec. G.A.P. Gibson, K.D. Floate

Piecing together the life cycle of Brychius sp. Thomson (Coleoptera: Haliplidae) found in Manitoba. T. Mousseau, R.E. Roughley

Salt marsh caddisflies: discovery of the larva and lar-val habitat of Limnephilus ademus in salt marsh-es in Prince Edward Island, Canada. O.S. Flint, D.J. Giberson

The Scientific Committee met in Ottawa on October 17–18, 2002

Scientific Projects

1. Grasslands Dr. Kevin Floate provided background

about the reorganization at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, the Agricultural Policy Framework (APF) and the Biodiversity theme, and possible avenues for funding grasslands work within these frameworks. The Survey agreed to encourage contacts with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada about such matters. Dr. Wheeler thought that the funding issue seems to be the most serious obstacle to the grasslands project. He would like to see new interest in doing grassland work. Dr. Danks pointed out that even if the project could not obtain large funding, it could proceed in the same way as the Yukon book and other Survey projects, whereby individuals apply for their own fund-ing for subprojects.

Dr. Wheeler reported that the symposium on “Arthropods of grasslands: ecology and

interactions” was held at the annual meeting of the Entomological Society of Canada. The symposium was attended by up to 50 people and the good talks helped to increase the profile of the project. Letters of invitation to potential authors for the first grasslands volume (with a title similar to that of the symposium) would soon be sent out. More potential authors would also be contacted to confirm their availability and interest.

Dr. Roughley explained that the planned grasslands field trip to the tall grass prairie re-serve in July 2002 had been rained out. A trip might be feasible to the same area another year, but it might be better to cover new territory such as the Peace River or palouse grasslands in southern British Columbia. Other details would be discussed further at a meeting of the Grasslands subcommittee after the current meeting.

2. Family keysA project to produce keys for all the in-

sect families of British Columbia, which had earlier been stopped when funding was with-

Summary of the Meeting of the Scientific Committee for the Biological Survey of Canada, October 2002


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drawn, has now received another year’s fund-ing from FII (Forestry Innovation Investment Program). Apterygote and exopterygote keys should be finished soon, allowing production of the Canadian key by adding to the provincial data.

3. Arctic invertebrate biologyDr. Ring drew the Committee’s atten-

tion to the article he had written for the Arctic Corner of the Survey newsletter (see Newletter 21(2): 64–66). This had coincided with a letter-writing campaign by the Association of Cana-dian Universities for Northern Studies. Both of these activities addressed the imminent collapse of Canadian polar science. Despite that view, Dr. Ring noted that some arctic-related work is going on. At the January 2003 annual meeting for the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology there will be a CSZ symposium on biology in the Canadian arctic [see p. 19]. Dr. Ring circulated a book on Natural History of the Western Arctic now published, which includes a chapter on insects of the western Arctic. Dr. Ring noted that the Canadian Navy is sending two ships to the Arctic to establish sovereignty. He pointed out that the government is missing an opportunity to establish sovereignty – at the same time as supporting research in the Arctic – through researchers in the field.

4. Insects of Keewatin and MackenzieDr. Currie reported that the third install-

ment of this project took the form of a canoe trip along 300 km of the Thelon River by five cooperators. This area is an arctic oasis con-taining trees and other organisms well north of their typical range. A preliminary report of the Thelon River trip was published in the Survey newsletter. An expedition next year is likely to be farther east. Dr. Currie welcomed partici-pants for future expeditions (see p. 12–13).

5. Seasonal adaptationsDr. Danks reported that this project con-

tinues with the recent publication of papers on the range of insect dormancy responses and on the modification of adverse conditions by insects. A paper on insect photoperiodism and rhythmicity (from a 2002 International Japa-

nese-Czech meeting) is in press. He had also accepted an invitation to present a paper (the only one on insects, considering the seasonal adaptations of arctic insects) at the symposium on Biology of the Arctic to be held in Toronto in January at the meeting of the Society for In-tegrative and Comparative Biology.

Other scientific priorities

1. Invasions and reductionsThe Committee reviewed a number of

relevant projects including information about alien Hemiptera, and introduced crayfish, gall wasps, and other organisms. Several members of the Committee are cooperating to evaluate how to use coccinellids as a model to inves-tigate invasive species. Data from the CNC have been received and protocols to get all the specimen data in a similar format are being discussed. Broader issues will be addressed as part of the future planning for this project. The theme of the Entomological Society of Ontario meeting in October 2002 is invasive species and insect biodiversity.

2. Survey web siteDr. Danks reported that major updates

include a section on ‘Specific sources of fund-ing’ added to the ‘Biodiversity Funding’ brief, the Spring and Fall BSC newsletters including additional photographs for the article on the Thelon River expedition, and the 2002 Grass-lands newsletter. A number of minor correc-tions and edits were also made. The site meter, started about two years ago, has logged about 8400 hits. The online database of workers has been upgraded and the Survey has been solicit-ing updates. Despite some difficulties caused by an overall redesign (unknown to the Survey) that took place soon after an extensive mail-out to solicit entries, numerous updates have been received.

Members of the Committee commented that the website is an amazing resource, for example for reference to briefs and for educa-tional use. The Insect Dormancy book, which is now out of print, can be downloaded. Col-


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leagues have congratulated the Survey on its excellent and generous site.

3. Arthropods and fireCurrent and earlier studies of arthropods

and fire, for example in Manitoba and British Columbia, were described. Several themes or hypotheses that could be used to focus a symposium or synthetic document were noted. Dr. Roughley agreed to lead such an initiative when he finishes his sabbatical next year.

4. Voucher specimensInformation and examples were provided

about the deposition policies of museums, good and bad voucher policies (including historical examples) and journal policies about voucher statements in published papers.

A complete draft of the Survey brief on voucher specimens had now been prepared by Dr. Wheeler, and would soon be available for final review by the Committee. The Commit-tee also noted the absence of voucher require-ments at any stage in the process of consultant work. There is no requirement for vouchers, no requirement for independent confirmation of identifications, and no requirement to verify consultant qualifications. Unfortunately too, many studies are not generated by the desire to gain knowledge but by some other require-ment, which is not conducive to good science.

5. Monitoring of continuing prioritiesInformation on earlier or currently less

active Survey projects was reviewed, including arthropod ectoparasites of vertebrates, arthro-pods of the Yukon, arthropods of the Queen Charlotte Islands (Haida Gwaii) (including an international symposium on introduced spe-cies), arthropods of special habitats, climatic change, and agroecosystems.

Under arthropod ectoparasites, it was noted that considerable funds are being directed to monitoring of the West Nile Virus and its po-tential mosquito vectors in Ontario, Nova Sco-tia, Quebec, Manitoba and elsewhere. A cause for concern is that the Ontario government is now considering spraying, which is likely to be ineffectual because these mosquitoes are con-

tainer-breeding. The organism responsible for Lyme disease, transmitted by ticks, has been found in Nova Scotia.

Under arthropods of the Yukon, men-tion was made of an unusual web site at http://www.ec.gc.ca/Bisy, comprising a compilation of the aquatic insects collected in the Yukon as a result of the request by Environment Canada to companies for environmental assessment and collections for baseline evaluation and impact assessment (but excluding data from books, museums or journals). Most of the iden-tifications were made by a consultant. The site has limited context and the species lists appear to be very incomplete.

Under agroecosystems, mention was made of a Quebec guide to cranberry pests (now available in English) and a website on the bees of Maritime Canada [http://res2.agr.ca/kentville/pubs/bees-abeilles_e.htm]. Talks at the Entomological Society of Canada annual meeting showed clearly the importance of bio-diversity and taxonomy in identifying potential biocontrol agents for pest species.

6. Other priorities The Committee also discussed actions

and information about old-growth forests, en-dangered species, damaged ecosystems, faunal analysis, Survey publicity and other subjects.

Liaison and exchange of information

1. Canadian Museum of NatureDr. Mark Graham, Director, Research

Services, reported on activities from the Global Biodiversity Information Facility. Canada is a member of GBIF [www.gbif.org]. The organi-zation has a staff of 14 and there are 21 mem-ber countries. It is working collaboratively with other international entities. The aim is to co-ordinate information on biodiversity so that member countries can share and access it in a format that everyone can use. The budget for staff and operations is $3 million but this is not enough money to assist all countries in estab-lishing an information node or electronic portal to distribute a country’s biodiversity informa-tion. One work program aims to digitize in-


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formation on the natural history specimens on earth. Another program aims for a complete list of all species names. GBIF will have programs to grant seed money. Canada hopes to be in a position to apply for some of that money. In response to questions, Dr. Graham stated that GBIF will primarily be funding research on how to make information available, i.e infor-matics. It is proposing to have funds available to obtain content but will only fund up to 20% of a total project up to $50,000 (U.S.).

The Museum is starting a new 5-year planning focus targeted to better address issues of relevance to Canadians. A cross-Canada survey was undertaken by an outside company. The main natural history topic that people are concerned about is environmental change and what impacts the environment, which therefore will be a key issue for the CMN for the next 5 years. Dr. Graham reported that the CMN is helping to organize a consortium of natural history museums. Members of the Commit-tee expressed their hope for the success of the natural history consortium and encouraged the Museum to continue to take the lead on this initiative. However they also pointed out that GBIF parallels a similar pattern over previ-ous years with NBII, CANBII, CBIN, BCIN and BKIN where substantial funds were used to hold meetings and build frameworks but no money ever filtered down to doing real science on specimens where the money is re-ally needed. Therefore, scientists not directly involved in these projects are starting to view them with cynicism and ultimately these initia-tives will lose the support that they need from grass-roots scientists. It was also pointed out that although known data can be entered there may well be hundreds of undescribed or poorly known species too. It will take a lot of time and money to get the data on these other species to a stage where they can be put into informat-ics schemes, which otherwise will always be seriously incomplete resources. Moreover, people must get credit for the work of provid-ing information for these databases. However, organizations such as the Integrated Taxonomic

Information System do not give such acknowl-edgements on their sites.

2. Agriculture and Agri-Food CanadaDr. Gary Gibson reminded the Com-

mittee that the research branch of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, including the group formerly known as ECORC, is undergoing a reorganization. All research personnel now work under one of the national programs. Within each program there are themes and studies. All the systematists in Ottawa (as well as some professionals from elsewhere) have been assigned to the Biodiversity theme within the program of Environmental Health.

A systematic entomology position is cur-rently being staffed at the Canadian National Collection, the first new one in 12 years. Three positions have been approved but funding is available for only one. Dr. Gibson explained that visiting scientists, students, etc. working unattended after hours at the Centre must now receive security clearance and therefore at least 2 weeks notice is required to complete the pa-perwork.

All documents including scientific ones on federal government websites must now be available in both official languages, a require-ment that has had repercussions on projects such as the in-progress Ticks of Canada pub-lication (intended for publication on the web). Even information that is available must be translated, resulting in delays as well as dif-ficulties because of the technical nature of the material. Members of the Committee noted other consequences of the requirement for French and English versions. For example, at Environment Canada many primary publica-tions have been removed from the web because they were not available in both languages. Sci-entists are also forbidden from even listing the titles of their publications unless they are avail-able in both languages.

3. Entomological Society of CanadaDr. Gibson reported on behalf of Society

President Dr. Sandy Smith about the recent annual general meeting held in Winnipeg. He


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also outlined the changes that have been made at the Canadian Entomologist. Effective 2003, the journal will be available online, to members only, through NRC Press. Members will first have the option of receiving it electronically or in hard copy or both for the usual membership fee. In subsequent years members will have to pay a surcharge to receive the journal in both formats. Institutions will not receive the elec-tronic format until 2004. Effective immediately there is a new editorial structure for the journal. Formerly there was an Editor and associate edi-tors. The editor will continue to receive papers initially but will then forward papers to the appropriate division editor. There will now be four divisions, each with its own editor who is responsible for the acceptance of papers in his/her division. Hence each division is headed by a specialist in the area. It is hoped that this new structure will reduce the load on the volunteer editor. The Committee contributed comments about the format of the journal. Dr. Gibson re-ported that foreign but not Canadian member-ship continues to decline.

4. Canadian Forest ServiceDr. John Huber was representing the

Canadian Forest Service because most staff had been called to a meeting to discuss new priorities. The CFS continues to reorganize and examine its directions. A science branch meeting was called to discuss the alignment of the branch’s roles, responsibilities and re-porting relationships to reflect the need for a stronger role in planning and communication of the science and technology program while recognizing the possibility of new delivery models for forest science. Dr. Huber explained that budgets have been put on hold and will be reallocated for the remainder of the fiscal year. Ideas being considered are how national priorities relate to the biodiversity theme and how to identify scientific work that will address critical national needs and offer opportunities for products that result in high impact and visibility. Dr. Huber outlined part of the new vision under discussion. Later, he reported on the Science Branch meeting. At Forestry there will be 40% turnover of scientific staff over the

next 5 years. The Director General wants the Science Branch to show increased relevance to clients as well as to balance regional needs with national objectives. There are plans to have a stronger integration of science and policy (es-pecially dealing with the key issues of climate change, biodiversity, pesticides, and certain pest groups), a call for stronger top-down management, and a focus on important issues. The number of listed projects will be reduced. Thematic network teams would include one on forestry stewardship, addressing such issues as invasive species and biodiversity. These proposals will lead to further exercises and discussions.

5. Environment CanadaA new Water Quality Directorate at

Environment Canada combines the various as-pects of water quality such as contaminants and pathogens that currently are under different di-rectorates. The Ecological Monitoring and As-sessment Network is now part of a new direc-torate established within Environment Canada, the Knowledge Integration Directorate, which includes EMAN, the Canadian Information System for the Environment (CISE ), Outreach Programs, Information Technology, and Hu-man Resources and Innovation Services.

Dr. Danks had been in communication with Ms. Lisa Twolan, Scientific Project Of-ficer for the General Status of Species program at the Canadian Wildlife Service. The General Status Working Group is gearing up to produce the second reporting document on wild species in Canada, entitled “Wild Species 2005”. The proposed plan is to include national ranks for a range of taxonomic groups including butter-flies, dragonflies/damselflies and tiger beetles.

6. Parasitology module, Canadian Society of Zoologists

Dr. Marcogliese reported that work continues on the protocols for EMAN. The stickleback project also continues, including a workshop at the International Congress of Parasitology held August 2002 in Vancouver. Most of the presentations from the Biodiversity symposium at the International Congress will


Vol. 22, No. 1 9

be published in a special issue of the Journal of Parasitology in 2003.

Dr. Marcogliese circulated a number of articles on issues such as online taxonomy, the All Species Foundation and challenges for taxonomy as well as relevant items from the President’s symposium of the Helminthologi-cal Society of Washington on parasitology and its future.

7. Parks CanadaDr. Danks reminded the Committee that

Mr. Alvo, Parks Canada, attended the April meeting. Dr. Danks had sent him extensive information about the Survey. Its receipt had been acknowledged. No Parks representative was able to come to this meeting.

Prompted by the recent announcement of 10 new national parks and 5 new national ma-rine conservation areas over the next 5 years, the Committee noted that despite the mandate of ecological integrity and recognition of the need to study the parks and gather baseline data, there is no additional funding. Therefore, the Committee drafted a letter (subsequently refined and sent) to relevant decision makers, pointing out the need for adequate resources and for the use of existing outside expertise for inventory and monitoring of Parks biota. In due course, the letter would be sent to professional societies urging them to send similar letters to decision makers. It was noted too that although it is unlikely that significant financial support for arthropod studies will come from Parks, the issue of access to some national parks and con-cern about differences in the ability to secure permits is also important.

8. Natural Sciences and Engineering Re-search Council of Canada

Dr. Shorthouse reported that the NSERC reallocation process has been completed. He reminded the Committee of its input in this area. Unfortunately, the funding through the Grant Selection Committee handling system-atics and other topics was cut by $1 million; other life sciences committees likewise had funding reduced, to the benefit of chemistry,

physics, computers and informatics. It was not-ed that some of the problems with the relevant GSC stem from its diversity and the divergence between historical ecology, evolution and sys-tematics.

Other items

1. Reports on regional development of poten-tial interest

Information of interest to the Survey from various parts of the country was outlined, including the following subjects.

In British Columbia, an attractive field handbook on the dragonflies of British Co-lumbia and the Yukon has been published. The very successful pest management program at Simon Fraser University is still in limbo. The term of the Director has finished and no new students are being registered at least until Janu-ary. Work in the south Okanagan valley has led to the conclusion that 50% of the valley needs to be protected as habitat to conserve a range of organisms. Dr. Wayne Maddison, a student of spiders, has been appointed at the University of British Columbia effective January 1.

In the prairies, the 50th annual meeting of the Entomological Society of Alberta (Octo-ber 24–26) included a keynote address by Dr. George Ball summarizing 50 years of entomol-ogy in Alberta. Some outbreaks of carabid and scarabaeid beetles were reported this year in Alberta. Activities in various prairie laborato-ries were reviewed.

In Ontario, the Royal Ontario Museum is continuing with its major upgrade, “Rennais-sance ROM”. Ground will be broken in May 2003 for the first phase. Projects and person-nel changes across Ontario were reviewed. Dr. Glenn Wiggins has completed a popular book on Trichoptera which will be a joint University of Toronto/NRC Press publication.

In Quebec, the pest diagnostic clinic was very busy this past summer: a record number of samples was received including some new records for North America and other interesting material. The joint meeting of the Conférence


Vol. 22, No. 1 11

Internationale Francophone d’Entomologie and the Societé d’Entomologie du Québec was held in July. Dr. Paul Bouchard died recently. His collection will be donated to the province. Dr. Chris Buddle, a student of spiders, has joined the Department of Natural Resources, Macdonald Campus of McGill University. At the Lyman Museum there was major curatorial effort in the Orthopteroid collection, and work to secure the Henry Lyman Library. The Uni-versité de Montréal is currently recruiting for a position in insect systematics and conservation. This position is a replacement for Dr. Peter Harper. A new network, le Reseau Québecois de la Biodiversité, has been formed. Opposition to cosmetic pesticide use continues to grow in Quebec, especially in the Montreal area. There have even been campaigns to encourage the ac-ceptance of weeds. Other projects and changes in personnel were reviewed.

In the Maritimes and Newfoundland, Mr. Chris Majka at the Nova Scotia Museum of Natural History is making an effort to get many Coleoptera identified and build a refer-ence collection, and has produced some inter-esting web pages. A workshop organized by the Biodiversity Convention Office and the Fed-eral-Provincial Territorial Working Group took place in July. The workshop brought university researchers in biodiversity and others from At-lantic Canada together to draft an outline of a

research agenda for biodiversity. The intention was to find areas of collaboration, encourage interdisciplinary work, increase publicity, and influence funding. A faculty position in bio-diversity is being advertised at the University College of Cape Breton. Other activities across the Maritimes were reviewed.

For the arctic, the fact that the Polar Continental Shelf Project’s budget was cut by 20% last year (so that some arctic research-ers did not receive any logistic support) had led to an active letter-writing campaign to members of parliament and other agencies. The consequences of that campaign would be discussed at the annual general meeting of the Association of Canadian Universities for Northern Studies in October. The Canadian Po-lar Commission has compiled a publication on indicators of Canadian polar knowledge using two years’ data. The 14 indicators include such things as studies of polar subjects supported by granting agencies, university courses in polar-related subjects, newspaper articles relevant to Canadian polar matters, and fiction publica-tions by northern Canadian authors. The Euro-pean Union Framework Program 6 is meeting in Brussels in November. This program has $27 billion Canadian going into research and devel-opment. There is much competition for partner-ships with countries outside Europe.

2. Other mattersThe Committee also considered in-

formation about other relevant subjects, including international liaison, membership of the Scientific Committee, operations of the Biological Survey Secretariat, and ad-ditional information about publications and conferences.


Vol. 22, No. 1 11

The Quiz Page—test your knowledge of Canada and its fauna—

1. What is rock flour?

2. One well-known northern insect collecting locality was formerly known by the name Frobisher Bay. When was the name changed, what is it now, and what does it mean in Inuktitut?

3. What is the average fire rotation time, or mean time between fires, in the boreal forest?

4. What are loopers, gentles, hellgrammites, rose slugs and doodle bugs, and what do they have in common?

5. Define the following terms that apply to parasitoids:

a) marking

b) koinobiont

c) idiobiont

d) endoparasitoid

e) hyperparasitoid

f) microtype egg

[Answers on p. 24]


Vol. 22, No. 1 13

Project Update: Insects of Keewatin and Mackenzie

The insects of the Canadian north are among the most inadequately surveyed faunas in

North America. The Northern Biting Fly Sur-vey from 1947 onwards, the Northern Insect Survey that developed from it, and subsequent Studies on Arctic Insects resulted in extensive collections from arctic and subarctic Canada and provided valuable insights about insect di-versity in the far north. The history of this col-lecting is outlined by Danks (1981), Riegert (1985) and Downes (1992). Nevertheless, rela-tively few sites were sampled, especially on the northern mainland, and the material collected is unsuitable for modern analysis such as cytol-ogy and DNA sequence analysis. The area re-mains difficult to access and few field stations or other elements of infrastructure are available to support field work, so that adequate collec-tions can be made only by launching challeng-ing temporary expeditions.

Recent findings about the black flies of the Yukon Territory (Currie 1997), including the strong Beringian affinities of many species, suggested that the territory east of the Mack-enzie River, which is especially inadequately surveyed, would give particularly valuable insights into the diversity and biogeography of

northern insects. Information about energetics and food web dynamics would also be forth-coming.

Therefore, a proposal to sample the northern mainland east of the Yukon was led by D.C. Currie. It was supported by the Com-mittee for the Biological Survey in 1998 and was soon joined especially by D.J. Giberson. It resulted in a multiyear initiative to sample representative areas throughout the region. Ex-peditions were organized to the Horton River in 2000, by D.C. Currie, D.J. Giberson, P.H. Adler, B.V. Brown and M.G. Butler (Currie et al. 2000), to the Northwest Territories in 2001 by D.C. Currie and P.H. Adler, and to the The-lon River in 2002 by D.C. Currie, D.J. Giber-son, P.H. Adler, A. Roe and L. Purcell (Currie et al. 2002). Travel to settlements on the eastern shore of Hudson Bay and adjacent inland sites, including Rankin Inlet, Baker Lake and Arviat, is planned for July 2003.

Already each area has been shown to contain a surprisingly large number of species, but with great differences in species compo-sition from the Yukon and from one area to another. Other findings are being developed

from material obtained on the pre-vious trips (and see Currie et al. 2000, 2002), and will be extended through the specimens that will be collected on later expeditions. Those interested in participating in future elements of the Keewa-tin and Mackenzie project should contact Dr. Doug Currie (Centre for Biodiversity and Conservation Biology, Royal Ontario Museum, 100 Queens Park, Toronto, ON M5S 2C6; [email protected]).


Vol. 22, No. 1 13

ReferencesCurrie, D.C. 1997. Black flies (Diptera: Simuliidae)

of the Yukon, with reference to the black-fly fauna of North America. pp. 563–614 in H.V. Danks and J.A. Downes (Eds.), Insects of the Yukon. Biological Survey of Canada (Terres-trial Arthropods), Ottawa.

Currie, D.C., D. Giberson and B.V. Brown. 2000. Insects of Keewatin and Mackenzie. Newslet-ter of the Biological Survey of Canada (Ter-restrial Arthropods) 19 (2): 48–51.

Currie, D.C., D. Giberson and P.H. Adler. 2002. Insect biodiversity in the Thelon wildlife sanctuary. Newsletter of the Biological Survey of Canada (Terrestrial Arthropods) 21 (2): 59–64.

(All photographs by D.C. Currie)

Danks, H.V. 1981. Arctic Arthropods. A review of systematics and ecology with particular refer-ence to North American fauna. Entomological Society of Canada, Ottawa. 608 pp.

Downes, J.A. 1992. History Corner: Studies on arctic insects. Arctic Insect News 3:12–21.

Riegert, P.W. 1985. The Heritage Lecture: Some aspects of a limited history of northern insect studies. Bulletin of the Entomological Society of Canada 17 (4): 90–96.


Vol. 22, No. 1 15

A colleague from Scandinavia recently congratulated the Survey on its “excellent and generous site” where many publications are available.

For example, the full text of all of the Survey’s briefs are posted in both html and pdf format. Two major publications from the Survey’s Monograph series have also been put on the Survey’s website:

Insect Dormancy: an ecological perspective (H.V. Danks. 1987. 439 pp.) has been out of print for many years. Posting the text on the web has again made this book accessible. The critically acclaimed book is a compre-hensive synthesis from a new ecological orientation of information on how dormancy and related adaptations help to control insect life cycles

Insects of the Yukon (H.V. Danks and J.A. Downes, Eds. 1997. 1034 pp.) is another authoritative and highly acclaimed book. generated by the Survey’s Yukon project, that brings together work by 35 international ex-perts, allowing a synthesis of zoogeographical information about the fauna of the region.

Briefs available on the website include:

•Status and Research Needs of Canadian Soil Arthropods•Recommendations for the Appraisal of Environmental Disturbance: Some general

guidelines and the value and feasibility of insect studies•Insects of Canada•Arctic Invertebrate Biology: Action required•Freshwater Springs: A national heritage•Arthropod Ectoparasites of Vertebrates in Canada•The Importance of Research Collections of Terrestrial Arthropods•Terrestrial Arthropod Biodiversity: Planning a study and recommended sampling

techniques•How to assess insect biodiversity without wasting your time•The advantages of using arthropods in ecosystem management•Information on Biodiversity funding: Funding sources for graduate students in

arthropod biodiversity•Terrestrial Arthropod Biodiversity Projects – Building a factual foundation

•Label data standards for terrestrial arthropods

The link to these and other Survey publications is at: http://www.biology.ualberta.ca/bsc/english/publications.htm

Web Site Notes


Vol. 22, No. 1 15

Opinion Page—The Opinion Page is a forum for views and ideas of potential interest to readers—

Contributions should be sent to the editor.

Steve MarshallDepartment of Environmental Biology, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, N1G 2W1, [email protected]

The value of arthropod survey, inventory and monitoring projects depends on ac-

curate identification of the taxa under study. While the impact of misidentifications in biodi-versity projects is less obvious and immediate than the impact of misidentifications of pests, parasitoids or medically important arthropods, accurate identifications are at the heart of most biodiversity work and are crucial to conserva-tion biology. Furthermore, correct names are predictive, they open the door to the literature on the taxa involved, and allow the data from a study to be properly shared and archived.

Identifying organisms usually demands effort, resources and expertise, and is there-fore associated with a cost, but those costs are almost infinitely variable, ranging from essen-tially free (easily recognized species such as lady beetles) through to thousands of dollars (potentially invasive species in difficult taxa for which there are no keys). Identification costs between these extremes will vary accord-ing to the experience of the identifier, the nature of the taxon, and the availability of reference collections, revisions, reviews, monographs and regional works. For these reasons, the pre-set fees for identification implemented by various institutions are impractical and cannot possibly be based on a real per-specimen cost estimate. There is no point in trying to generate generalized figures for the “real cost of insect identification” based on the effort required to

identify individual specimens, since in the ideal world any insect should be as readily identifi-able as lady beetles and butterflies are today. Identification costs would be uniformly low if, for example, there was a central web site with links to user-friendly, richly illustrated, author-itative, regional keys for all adequately known insects. Instead of asking what it should cost to have individual insect species identified again and again, we should be addressing the costs of developing the tools needed to make those individual identifications simple and accurate.

Meeting the societal cost of insect identifica-tions

Canadians need the capability to identify all of our species, most of which are insects, for a number of good reasons over and above our legal commitments to do so because of the Biodiversity Convention, new federal Species at Risk Legislation, and related laws at na-tional, provincial and regional levels. We need to recognize pests and beneficials, invasive and threatened species, species of interest to related disciplines such as ecology, bioindicator spe-cies, species of potential pharmaceutical value, etc. Most insect species are currently difficult, and therefore costly, to reliably identify except by specialists with access to good reference collections. Repeated expenditures to identify species that require specialized expertise and specialized facilities or literature therefore represents an ongoing and significant cost to

The real costs of insect identification1

1Recently, the Scientific Committee for the Biological Survey has been discussing the per-specimen costs of insect identification, which prompted me to develop this essay.


Vol. 22, No. 1 17

our society, legitimately met in part by the tax dollars that subsidize the museums and associ-ated systematists who handle these identifica-tions. This, however, is an inefficient approach to meeting the need for identifications and one that could be compared to “giving a man a fish” in the ancient aphorism “give a man a fish and you feed him for a day, teach him to fish and you feed him for a lifetime”. What we need to do is to provide our population of naturalists, ecologists, conservation biologists, and others with the necessary tools to do as many of their own identifications as possible.

The tools required, and therefore the products that the taxonomic community must be adequately supported to develop, are as fol-lows:

1) Primary revisions. Basic revisions are the building blocks upon which all further efforts (indeed, all of biology) stands. There is no point in talking about identifications of a taxon in which significant numbers of spe-cies have not yet even been described. Good revisions have always included identification tools, although keys in primary revisions are often difficult or impossible for non-special-ists to use.

2) Reviews, handbooks and regional monographs. Usually built upon a framework provided by primary revisions, secondary treatments of major taxa such as the highly ac-claimed Insects and Arachnids of Canada se-ries go a long way towards making significant groups of insects readily identifiable. Most still require significant expertise and experi-ence, and most (but not all) are difficult to use reliably without a reference collection.

3) User-friendly identification guides. Once fundamental revisions and regional re-views have been developed for a taxon, the next logical step is to use that foundation to develop easily used identification guides. Here in Ontario, any naturalist with a hand lens can now identify several groups for which there are provincial or northeastern North American field guides (for example: dragonflies, macro-

moths, butterflies, lady beetles, tiger beetles, long-horned beetles)

4) New tools for insect identification. Newly available software, hardware and other technology is providing unprecedented oppor-tunities for new approaches to insect identifica-tion such as computer (matrix) keys and auto-mated identification systems. Implementation of these approaches may allow us to bypass step 3 above, but step 1 remains essential and step 2 will normally be a prerequisite.

The question of interest, then, is not “how much do identifications cost?” but “how can we expedite the above steps to minimize the societal cost of insect identifications?” Steps 1 and 2 (revisions and reviews) must be recognized as fundamental, as there is no point in discussing efficient ways of facilitating identifications if basic taxonomic data are not available for the taxa in question (description, name, comparison to related species, distri-bution, dichotomous keys). Assuming, then, that the already scarce resources needed for this fundamental work will not be diverted to implement steps 3 and 4 (development of sec-ond generation identification tools), what can be done to minimize the societal cost of insect identifications?

New tools for insect identification – magic bullets or massive matrices?

The addition of molecular techniques to the taxonomists’ arsenal has been one of the major (albeit most costly) advances of the last twenty years, and the use of molecular tools for insect identification has already shown great potential to expedite the identification of cryptic species, formerly unidentifiable life stages, and critical taxa such as disease vectors. Recent claims that molecular approaches com-prise the only solution to the taxonomic crisis, however, should be taken with a grain of salt. Similar claims have been made by champions of emerging technologies (quantitative phenet-ics, cuticular hydrocarbons, gel electrophore-sis, DNA-DNA hybridisation) in the past, in each case generating a flurry of interest (and funding) but never making a significant impact


Vol. 22, No. 1 17

on how organisms are identified. Some mo-lecular biologists are now proposing that DNA sequences really will provide the magic bullet that earlier genetic technologies failed to yield. While I do not wish to be in any way critical of my colleagues’ very interesting and worthwhile research programs in molecular taxonomy, I would like to suggest that some of the claims being made by proponents of these research programs comprise gross hyperbole and, al-though they may increase the flow of funding into their research programs, they are not in the best interest of taxonomy as a whole. For example, a recent paper by Hebert et. al. (2002) argues that “the sole prospect for a sustainable identification capability lies in the construction of systems that employ DNA sequences as taxon ‘barcodes’”. The authors base their case for this exclusive approach on the claim that “taxonomic expertise is collapsing”, combined with the rather peculiar argument that a reli-ance on morphological taxonomists means that only professional taxonomists will be able to identify things, whereas molecular identifica-tions will free us from that dependence. Their claim that “since few taxonomists can critically identify more than 0.01% of the estimated 10–15 million species, a community of 15000 taxonomists will be required, in perpetuity, to identify life if our reliance on morphological diagnosis is to be sustained” seems to ignore that fact that once a taxon has been revised and reviewed (prerequisites for both molecular and morphological identification) identifica-tions can usually be done by non-specialists. Furthermore, once a taxon is reviewed it is usu-ally not that difficult to develop a user-friendly identification guide (and, as elaborated below, it is now especially practical to do so). We do not need a community of butterfly taxonomists in perpetuity to identify butterflies (although we do need butterfly taxonomists for many other reasons!), nor should we be dependant on taxonomists to identify most other taxa if the right tools are at hand. Hebert et. al. argue that the right tool, a system of DNA barcodes, can be developed for about a billion dollars (presumably American dollars), significantly less than that directed to other megascience

projects such as the Human Genome project. While I admire the innovative research pro-gram proposed by Hebert et. al. have proposed, it is not the right tool with which to minimize identification costs of Canadian insects.

Having rejected, at least for the mo-ment, a molecular solution to the taxonomic impediment, what are the alternatives? In my opinion, the Canadian entomological commu-nity is already moving in the right direction, and has been doing so for a long time through the production of secondary identification products such as checklists and catalogues, manuals, and handbooks. Although progress is slowed by our diminished ranks, opportu-nities to capitalize on readily available com-puter hardware and software combined with tremendous advances in digital imaging have set the stage to build on the infrastructure so successfully developed over the last century, and to render the Canadian insect fauna largely identifiable by non-taxonomists. One way this might be expedited is through the widespread use of expert systems or matrix keys developed using software such as LINNEAS, DELTA, 20Q, or LUCID. These programs expedite the construction of non-hierarchical keys that allow the user to select any character and char-acter state from a list (or group of illustrations) rather than being constrained to a sequence of characters as in a traditional dichotomous key. More importantly, matrix keys such as LUCID allow for the almost limitless use of the pho-tographs and other illustrations necessary to make any key user-friendly. In my opinion, the widespread availability of matrix keys on the web will represent the major revolution in in-sect identification over the next 20 years. This will happen quickly if taxonomists are given adequate credit for the production of matrix keys (ie, if there is a mechanism by which they can be reviewed and recognized as legitimate scientific publications), if funding is available (substantially less than a billion dollars!), and if our diminished taxonomic community is able to continue to generate the revisions and re-views which are necessary prerequisites to the


Vol. 22, No. 1 19

Arctic Corner

development of morphological or molecular iden-tification tools.

What can be done now to ma ke Canadian insects more identifiable?

Compared to the world insect fauna of mil-lions of insect species, Canada’s total fauna of tens of thousands of species is relatively manageable. Keys already exist to virtually all genera and most species, and Canadian taxonomists are already world leaders in the development of identification tools for all of the major insect orders. Perhaps it is time to launch a unified national effort to produce a guide to the insects of Canada. This could be done either by providing funding and an appropriate venue (a digital journal) for the publication of ma-trix keys to major groups, or by launching a com-munity-wide effort to develop a more traditional product incorporating photographs of every genus and most species of Canadian insects. The cost of publishing photographs has plummeted in recent

years, and new technology for image acquisi-tion makes it easier than ever before to obtain digital images of specimens and characters at any magnification. Many taxonomists have already built up major image libraries, and it is likely that a good proportion of our community of taxonomists would be willing to contribute expertise, time and images as co-authors of the Insects of Canada.

The development of a paper guide to Canadian insects and a concomitant library of images covering every genus in the coun-try would also simultaneously deal with the limiting step in putting together a matrix key for web publication (the assembly of an image library), so these two suggestions are by no means mutually exclusive. Both suggestions require funding, and either could be managed as a flagship project of the Biological Survey of Canada.

Database of People Interested in Terrestrial Arthropods UpdatedThanks to the many people who responded to our letters and emails and provided us with up to

date information about their interests in the systematics and faunistics of terrestrial arthropods of Can-ada. We hope the online list will be a useful tool. The database can be found on the Survey’s website at http://www.biology.ualberta.ca/bsc/bschome.htm. Follow the menu item ‘List of workers (database)’.

However, we have somewhat dated information about the following people, some of whom may have moved away. The Secretariat would be happy to receive up to date information concerning anyone on this list.

John AcornMichael AlperynRobert Anderson (Winnipeg)Andrew BennettJean-Pierre BourassaRob BourchierDonald BrightJim ChaputHelene ChiassonDaniel CoderreJim CorriganJeffrey CummingDouglas CurrieRob CurrieTroy DanykChris DarlingPeter De GrootKen DeaconEldon EveleighEd Fuller

Eric GeorgesonRebecca HallettVictor HellebuyckBlair HelsonBruce HemingJohn HeratyGerald HilchieLee HumbleJosh JacobsJ.D. LafontaineBob LalondeDavid LewisRobert LongairOwen LonsdalePatricia MacKayKenna MacKenzieAlain MaireValin MarshallLubomir MasnerPeter Mason

Alec McClayJeremy McNeilWilliam MortonTimothy MylesVincent NealisAndrew NimmoKevin NixonGeorges PelletierKenelm PhilipR.C. PlowrightF. Wolfgang QuednauDan QuiringAmanda RoeJens RolandJames RyanDiana SaundersJade SavageCynthia Scott-DupreeMichael SharkeyDanny Shpeley

Ales SmetanaIan SmithRob SmithSandy SmithJohn SpenceNick TatarnickJean-Claude TourneurBob VernonDudley WilliamsD. Monty WoodDicky YuJack Zloty


Vol. 22, No. 1 19

Arctic Corner

Arctic CornerNews about studies of arctic insects

Introduction

Arctic Corner provides a forum for news of particular arctic interest, replacing the Biological Sur-vey’s newsletter Arctic Insect News (1990–2000). Contributions to Arctic Corner are welcomed by

the Editor (see inside front cover).

Arctic research notes

As noted by Richard Ring in the Fall 2002 issue of this newsletter (Canadian re-

search in arctic entomology is out in the cold) there are few new research initiatives in arc-tic entomology (but see p. 12 for an update of the project on Insects of Keewatin and Mack-enzie). However, some general arctic research activities are worth noting.

Symposium on Biology of the Canadian Arctic

In January 2003 the Canadian Society of Zoologists organized a symposium on Bi-ology of the Canadian Arctic, with a focus on environmental change, which was held in con-junction with the 2003 annual meeting of the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biol-ogy. A variety of biologists presented a total of 15 papers, including one by Hugh Danks on Seasonal adaptations in arctic insects.

At that meeting a letter signed by 42 geographers, zoologists, botanists and clima-tologists was drafted and sent to Jean Chrétien and other members of parliament. The letter urged the federal government to recognize the diminished capacity of Canadian scientists to conduct research in the arctic and to take action

to recognize Canada’s renewed commitment to northern research, specifically:

“-by highlighting the need to reinforce Canadian arctic science in Minister Manley's upcoming budget speech;

-by providing new resources to the national funding research bodies (NSERC and SSHRC) so that all of recommendations of the 2000 Report of the Task Force on Northern Research “From Crisis to Opportunity”, can be fully implemented;

-by committing additional funding to the Polar Continental Shelf Project to rebuild research infrastructure and logistic support in the Canadian Arctic;

-by expanding training opportunities for university and northern students through programs, such as the Northern Scientific Training Program;

-by further coordinating and supporting federal research activities in the north, as outlined in the 2000 Northern Science and Technology Framework and Research Plan.”

This letter attracted coverage in the me-dia following the meeting.


Arctic Corner

Vol. 22, No. 1 21

Arctic Corner

Northern Regional Impacts and Sensitivity to Climate Change

Northern Regional Impacts and Sensitiv-ity to Climate Change (N-RiSCC) is a multi-agency network incorporating university and government researchers with a goal to elucidate the complex linkages and feedbacks among ter-restrial, fresh water and coastal ecosystems in the face of global warming. N-RiSCC is pro-posing a Canadian research expedition on an icebreaker up the east coast of Hudson Bay to northern Ellesmere Island studying the sensi-tivity of coastal and terrestrial ecosystems to climate change. Canadian Foundation for In-novation funds to refit the icebreaker Franklin for polar science were recently awarded. Plan-ning for the structure and support for N-RisCC (2005–2010) is now underway. For further information see http://www.geog.ubc.ca/~ghenry/N-RiSCC/home.htm

ArcticNetSome funding towards the operation of

the icebreaker for N-RisCC could come from a proposed Networks of Centres of Excellence Program initiative called ArcticNet. ArcticNet is planned to be a network for the cross-secto-rial study of the changing Canadian arctic. An ArcticNet Workshop was held in Montreal on January 16, 17, 2003. For further information contact Louis Fortier, Université Laval, [email protected]

Circumpolar student conferenceThe Association of Canadian Universi-

ties for Northern Studies (ACUNS) is planning an international circumpolar student confer-ence at the University of Alberta, 24–26 Octo-ber 2003. For more information on the ACUNS 2003 Northern Students Conference contact David Malcolm ([email protected]) at the Circumpolar Institute (www.ualberta.ca/~ccinst/).

Funding for arctic studies

Despite the general decline in financial support for arctic insect research, some

sources of funding are available especially to assist students who want to do northern re-search. Some of these sources are outlined in the brief: “Information on Biodiversity Fund-ing: Funding Sources for Graduate Students in Arthropod Biodiversity” by Terry Wheeler. See http://www.biology.ualberta.ca/bsc/english/funding.htm. Students are encouraged to read the entire document for advice on preparing ap-plications.

Some sources of funding specific to northern research are listed below. In addition, the funding brief lists other sources not neces-sarily specific to arctic research.

AINA Grants in Aid - Arctic Institute of North America. Support up to $500 for young researchers, including graduate students, to defray the costs of research in the north.

See: http://www.ucalgary.ca/aina/scholar/scholar.html

Aurora Research Institute. The James M. Harrison Bursary is intended to assist a student planning to return to the Northwest Territories. It will be awarded to a NWT resident; gradu-ate student, fourth year student, or third year student enrolled in a natural sciences program in a university or college. The Aurora Re-search Institute also helps fund research with the: Research Assistant Program; Research Fellowship Program, and the Research Associ-ate Program.

See: http://www.aurresint.nt.ca/index.htm

Canadian Northern Studies Trust (ACUNS). The Canadian Northern Studies Trust offers one or two scholarships valued at $10,000 each, to students currently enrolled in a doc-toral program at a Canadian university. Re-search must be conducted in northern Canada, where north is defined as on or north of the sporadic-discontinuous permafrost line.

http://www.geog.ubc.ca/~ghenry/N-RiSCC/home.htm

http://www.geog.ubc.ca/~ghenry/N-RiSCC/home.htm

mailto:[email protected]


http://www.ualberta.ca/~ccinst/

http://www.ualberta.ca/~ccinst/


Arctic Corner

Vol. 22, No. 1 21

Arctic Corner

See: http://www.cyberus.ca/~acuns/EN/a_sns_g.html

Canadian Northern Studies Polar Commis-sion Scholarship. Administered by ACUNS. Studentships will be awarded to students en-rolled in a doctoral program at a Canadian uni-versity. Studentships cover a 12-month period of study and are valued at $10,000. Proposals are especially invited from candidates who (a) will engage in research culminating in a thesis or other such document, (b) whose programs show excellence in research in Polar regions and (c) are willing to communicate results in a major national or Northern forum.

See: http://www.cyberus.ca/~acuns/EN/a_cnspcs_g.html

Churchill Northern Studies Centre. The goal of the Northern Research Fund (NRF) is to en-hance field research conducted by researchers utilizing facilities and services of the Churchill Northern Studies Centre (CNSC). It is a fund-matching program that awards a combination of cash and in-kind support by the CNSC for expenses normally encountered during the course of research programs.

See: http://mail.churchillmb.net/~cnsc/re-funding.html

Circumpolar/Boreal Alberta Research (C/BAR) Grants. Funded by the Government of Alberta, the Circumpolar/Boreal Alberta Re-search Grants are open to graduate and senior undergraduate students of the University of Alberta, staff or students at another college or University in Alberta, as well as residents of Alberta, Yukon, the Northwest Territories, and Nunavut. These grants-in-aid provide funds in support of research in any subject area.

See: http://www.ualberta.ca/~ccinst/GRANTS/grants.html

Jennifer Robinson Memorial Scholarship - Arctic Institute of North America. $5000 scholarship given annually to a graduate stu-

dent in northern biology. May be used to defray the costs of research.


Lorraine Allison Scholarship - Arctic Insti-tute of North America. $2000 scholarship given annually to a graduate student conduct-ing research related to northern issues (includ-ing northern biology).


Northern Research Institute of Yukon Col-lege. The NRI Fellowships provide up to $6,000 for expenses associated with defined research in the humanities, social, pure and applied sciences, investigating northern issues especially those with a Yukon focus.

See: http://www.yukoncollege.yk.ca/programs/nri/

Northern Scientific Training Program - Ad-ministered by the Northern Studies Committee at selected Canadian Universities on behalf of the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development. Support up to $3000 for gradu-ate students or senior undergraduates to defray the costs of research in the north.

See: http://www.ainc-inac.gc.ca/nstp/nstpb_e.html

Royal Canadian Geographical Society (RCGS). RCGS sponsored two studentships in 2003, both of which are administered by the Canadian Northern Studies Trust. The James W. Bourque Studentship is available for those enrolled in a doctoral program at a Canadian university. The other RCGS stu-dentship is open to students currently en-rolled in a master’s level program. See: http://www.cyberus.ca/~acuns/EN/a_jwb_g.html


Vol. 22, No. 1 23

Selected Future ConferencesOrganization Date Place Contact

ENTOMOLOGICAL CONFERENCES

Entomological Society of Canada

2003, 2–5 Nov.

Kelowna, BC (with the Entomological Society of British Columbia) http://esbc.harbour.com/jam.htmlTerry Shore, [email protected]

2004 PEI with the Acadian Entomological Society

Entomological Society of America

2003, 26–29 Oct.

Cincinnati, OH ESA, 9301 Annapolis Rd., Lanham, MD 20706-3115; [email protected]

2004, 14–18 Nov.

Salt Lake City, UT

ESA, see above

Annual Meeting of the Dragon-fly Society of the Americas

2003, 20–22 June

Williams, Colusa Co., CA

http://www.sonic.net/~bigsnest/DSA2003/Tim Manolis; [email protected]

Annual Meeting of the Lepidop-terists’ Society

2003, 23–27 July

Olds, AB http://www.furman.edu/~snyder/snyder/lep/meet.htmFelix Sperling, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmon-ton, AB T6G 2E9; [email protected]

II International Congress of Coleopterology

2003, 14–21 Sept.

Prague, Czech Republic

Milos Knizek, Secretary of II ICC, Forestry and Game Management, Research Institute Jiloviste – Strnady, CZ - 156 04 Praha 5 - Zbraslav, Czech Republic, [email protected]; www.coleocongress2003.cz

XXII International Congress of Entomology

2004, 15–20 Aug.

Brisbane, Aus-tralia

http://www.ccm.com.au/icoe/index.html

Ashley Gordon, Congress Director; [email protected]

Myron Zalucki, Chair ICE Executive [email protected]

PROVINCIAL SOCIETIES

Acadian Entomological Society 2003, 22–24 June

Bar Harbor, Maine

Andrei Alyokhin, Department of Biological Sciences, 5722 Deering Hall, University of Maine, Orono, ME 04469, [email protected]; http://www.upei.ca/~aes/




Vol. 22, No. 1 23

Organization Date Place Contact

Société d’entomologie du Québec

2003, 13–14 Nov.

Québec, QC http:// www.seq.qc.ca/accueil_fr.htm

Entomological Society of Alberta

2003, 2–4 Oct. Athabasca, AB Robert Holmberg, Centre for Sci-ence, Athabasca University, 1 University Dr., Athabasca, AB T9S 3A3; [email protected]; http://www.biology.ualberta.ca/courses.hp/esa/esa2003.htm

Entomological Society of British Columbia

2003, 2–5 Nov.

Kelowna, BC (with the Entomological Society of Canada; see that entry)

COLLECTIONS / MUSEUMS / SYSTEMATICS

Natural Science Collections Alli-ance Annual Meeting

2003, 5–6 June

Berkley, Califor-nia

http://www.nscalliance.org/annual_meeting/03/index.aspJudy Scotchmoor, Director of Educa-tion and Public Programs, University of California Museum of Paleontology, Valley Life Sciences Building, Berkeley CA 94720–4780; [email protected]

Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections An-nual Meeting

2003, 15–19 June

Lubbock, Texas http://mum202-2.musm.ttu.edu/spnhc2003/Richard Monk; [email protected]

OTHER SUBJECTS (ESPECIALLY THOSE RELEVANT TO SURVEY PROJECTS)

American Institute of Biological Sciences

2003, 21–23 March

Washington, D.C. www.aibs.org

Canadian Society of Zoologists Annual Meeting

2003, 6–10 May

Waterloo, ON http://www.wlu.ca/csz/home.html

10th Annual International Conference on the St. Lawrence River Ecosystem (Large River Ecosystems Under Stress)

2003, 3–14 May

Cornwall, ON http://www.riverinstitute.com/html/conference.html

North American Benthological Society

2003, 27–31 May

Athens, Georgia http://www.benthos.org/Meeting/index.htmJack Feminella; Dept of Biological Sci-ences, Auburn University, 331 Funchess Hall, Auburn , AL USA , 36849-5407; [email protected]


Vol. 22, No. 1 25

Answers to Faunal Quiz[see page 11]

1. Rock flour is finely ground rock particles, chiefly silt size, resulting from glacial abrasion.

2. Frobisher Bay had its name changed on the first of January 1987 to Iqaluit, which means “place of many fish” in Inuktitut.

3. The mean fire rotation time in the boreal forest is about 60 years in drier pine-dominated stands, but 100 years in spruce forests, and up to hun-dreds of years in mixed-wood forests, but there is great variation on a range of scales.

4. Loopers, gentles, hellgrammites, rose slugs and doodle bugs are all insect larvae, respectively the immature stages of geometrid moths, blowflies, Dobson flies, sawflies and ant lions.

5. a) Marking is placing a signal on the host, typically done by an ovipositing female using pheromones, normally to limit superparasitism.

b) Koinobionts permit hosts to continue to move, feed and defend them-selves after parasitism.

c) Idiobionts are parasitoids which kill or permanently paralyze their hosts during oviposition.

d) Endoparasitoids are parasitoids that develop inside the host.

e) Hyperparasitoids are are parasitoids that attack other parasitoids.

f) Microtype eggs are tiny eggs deposited away from the host, for ex-ample on foliage, and then ingested by the host.

In Question 5 of the Quiz in issue 21(2), the last part of the sentence, “now treated as a synonym . .” should be deleted, because the change of genus designated by parentheses around the author could have been necessary for reasons other than synonymy, such as error or splitting of the genus [contributed by Fenja Brodo].


Vol. 22, No. 1 25

Quips and Quotes

“Micromalthus debilis LeConte (1878), has one of the most bizarre life cycles of any metazoan. Reproduction is typically by thelytokous, viviparous, larviform females, but there is also a rare arrhenotokous phase. The active first-instar (triungulin) larva develops into a legless, feeding (cerambycoid) larva. This form either pupates, leading to a diploid adult female, or develops into any of three subsequent types of reproductive paedogenetic forms: (1) a thelytokous female that produces triungulins via viviparity; (2) an arrhenotokous female that produces a single egg that develops into the short-legged (curculionoid) larva, eventually devouring its mother and becom-ing a haploid adult male; or (3) an amphitokous female that can follow either of the two above reproductive pathways.”

From D.A. Pollock and B.B. Normark. 2002. J. Zool. Syst. Evol. Res. 40(2): 105–112.

Walker Lake is a monomictic, nitrogen-limited, terminal lake located in western Nevada. . . As a result of anthropogenic desiccation, between 1882 and 1996 the lake's volume has dropped from 11.1 to 2.7 km3 and salinity has increased from 2.6 to 12–13 g l-1. . . If desiccation continues unabated, the lake will be too saline (>15–16 g l-1) to support trout and chub fisheries in 20 years, and in 50–60 years the lake will reach hydrologic equilibrium at a volume of 1.0 km3 and a salinity of 34 g l-1.

From M.W. Beutel, A.J. Horne, J.C. Roth and N.J. Barratt. 2001. Hydrobiologia 466(1–3): 91–105.

“It is not necessary to understand things in order to argue about them.” Caron de Beaumarchais

Terminological exactitude“In some cases, the difficulty observed by experimentalists is a kinetic problem. Water in a very

narrow, viscous layer is hard to remove even if the attraction to the hydrophilic surface is only modest. This is particularly the case at low temperatures because of the strong dependence of viscosity on tem-perature. Such water would fail to freeze not because it is in equilibrium with ice, but rather because it can remain in disequilibrium for a time exceeding the patience (or even the lifetime) of the experimen-talist. In such cases, ‘bound’ water may be not so much tied up as unavoidably detained.”

From J. Wolfe, G. Bryant and K.L. Koster. 2002. CryoLetters 23(3): 157–166.

No comment“The purpose of GBIF is to make the world’s biodiversity data freely and universally available.”

“These pages were designed for browsers newer than Internet Explorer / Netscape 4. Pages may display fairly strange.”

[Two messages on the home page of the Global Biodiversity Information Facility at www.gbif.org].

http://www.gbif.org


Vol. 22, No. 1 27

List of Requests for Material or Information Required for Studies of the

Canadian Fauna 2003

This list is intended to facilitate cooperation among entomologists by encouraging those who visit suitable areas while engaged in other studies to collect material of particular interest to workers

elsewhere. Similar lists that were circulated in previous years prompted the transmission of several useful sets of material, and the efforts of the various coooperators were much appreciated.

This list can also be found on the Survey’s website at http://www.biology.ualberta.ca/bsc/english/listofrequests.htm. It is updated there as information is received.

Minimum data requested with all speciments are, of course, locality, date, collector and habitat.

(**denotes address reference; listed on p. 34)

Material Requested

Areas of Interest

Collecting Methods, Notes Name of Requester

**

1 Acari (free living and parasitic ter-restrial and aquatic mites)

Anywhere, but especially sub-arctic and arctic Canada, Cana-dian grasslands

Berlese-Tullgren funnel extrac-tion from subaquatic substrates, from grasses and sedges, and from bird and mammal nests, would be especially fruitful (preserve in 75% ethanol +5% glycerine).

V.M. Behan-Pelletier; E.E. Lindquist; I.M. Smith

1

2 Adelgidae (conifer woolly aphids)

Anywhere Preserve insects and bark, needles or galls in 70% ethanol. Specimen records and host plant records

R. Foottit 1

3 Aleyrodidae (white-flies)

North America Preserve insects and host plant material in 70% ethanol. Adults may be dried. Specimen records and host plant records. (Cana-dian National Collection deficient in all species, including pest species)

R. Foottit 1

4 Anthomyiidae North America Specimens with biological data (especially reared specimens) in the genera Strobilomyia (conifer cone maggots), Lasiomma (lar-vae mainly in dung or bird nests), Egle (larvae in willow and poplar catkins), Chirosia (incl. Pycno-glossa) (larvae phytophagous in ferns), and Acrostilpna (biology unknown).

G.C.D. Griffiths 2


Vol. 22, No. 1 27

Material Requested

Areas of Interest


**

5 Anthomyzidae New World Adults from any habitat, but often associated with graminoids. Preservation in 70% ethanol preferred. Malaise and especially pan trap residues are acceptable and valuable. General descrip-tion of herbaceous cover and soil moisture advantageous.

K.N. Barber 3

6 Aphididae (aphids) Anywhere Preserve in 70% ethanol. Speci-men records and host plant records.

R. Foottit 1

7 Asilidae (robber flies)

North America Pinned adults R.A. Cannings 4

8 Braconidae Anywhere Pointed or in ethanol. M. Sharkey 5

9 Bumble bees Anywhere in Canada

Include floral host if any. Collect and preserve dry (but specimens that have already been put into ethanol are acceptable).

R.C. Plowright 6

10 Butterflies (see also 33, 34)

Arctic Preserve papered or pinned (col-lecting / preserving information supplied on request) [for Alaska Lepidoptera Survey]

K.W. Philip 7

11 Ceratopogonidae Anywhere in Canada

Send in fully topped-up vials of 70% ethanol. Reared material is especially valuable; provide type of substrate or habitat if material is reared.

A. Borkent 8

12 Cercopidae (frog-hoppers, spittle-bugs)

Canada and Alaska

Specimens (preferably not in ethanol if possible), records and host records.

K.G.A. Hamilton 1

13 Chalcidoids, espe-cially Eupelmidae

Holarctic Incl. sweep-net samples (see also 43) (collect into ethanol). Reared material is especially useful.

G.A.P. Gibson 1

14 Chironomidae: Lar-sia (Tanypodinae)

Nearctic and Palearctic fresh waters

Reared material preferred but will accept all stages in ethanol or on slides.

B. Bilyj 9

15 Chironomidae: Eukiefferiella, Tvetenia (Ortho-cladiinae)

All areas, espe-cially Ontario

Include sampling method, habitat information

W.B. Morton 10


Vol. 22, No. 1 29

Material Requested

Areas of Interest


**

16 Chrysomelidae (leaf beetles)

Anywhere, but especially in Canada

Mounted or unmounted and preserved in acetic alcohol (70 ethanol: 25 water: 5 parts glacial acetic acid). Include accurate (species level) host plant infor-mation.

L. LeSage 1

17 Cicadellidae (leaf-hoppers)

Canada and Alaska

Specimens (preferably not in eth-anol), records and host records.

K.G.A. Hamilton 1

18 Coccoidea (scale insects)

North America Preserve insect and host plant material in 70% ethanol. Speci-men records and host plant records.

R. Footit 1

19 Coleoptera (adults or immatures)

Canada For teaching. Material from mass collections accepted. (Kill larvae in boiling water removed from the heating element, let cool and transfer to 70% ethanol.)

Y.H. Prévost 11

20 Curculionidae (weevils)

Anywhere, but es-pecially northern Canada

Adults can be pinned, pointed, or preserved in ethanol. Record host plant information if possible.

D.E. Bright 1

21 Cynipidae: insect galls from domes-tic and wild roses

Anywhere Maturing to mature galls. Re-move galls from plants and place in plastic bags. Try to segregate galls of different species. Pre-serve any emergents in 70% ethanol.

J.D. Shorthouse 12

22 Dermaptera: For-ficula auricularia (perce-oreille eu-ropéen / European earwig)

Amérique du Nord et autres régions si possible

A sec ou dans l’alcool J.C. Tourneur 13

23 Diprionidae (diprio-nid sawflies)

North America Living diprionid sawflies of any species, identified or unidenti-fied. Record foodplant. Contact in advance about shipping.

L. Packer 14

24 Dytiscidae (pre-daceous diving beetles)

Canada, Alaska and northern USA

Adults and larvae; adults should be pinned or if in ethanol prelimi-narily sorted.

D.J. Larson 15

25 Eupelmidae: Ana-status

North America Reared materials with associated sexes are particularly important, regardless how few in number.

G.A.P. Gibson 1

26 Formicidae (ants) Anywhere Record type of habitat and nest site. Include brood if possible (preserve in ethanol).

A. Francoeur 16


Vol. 22, No. 1 29

Material Requested

Areas of Interest


**

27 Fungal pathogens of insects (esp. of deuteromycetes and ascomycetes)

Anywhere Place any fungus-infected speci-mens in a vial. (Identification of the fungus available on request.)

D. Strongman 17

28 Halictidae (sweat bees) brown and black spp. only

North America Particularly from blueberries. Pinned or preserved. Include flower record if available.

L. Packer 14

29 Hemiptera: Heter-optera (bugs)

Anywhere Aquatic and semi-aquatic Het-eroptera from acid waters (an indication of pH would be use-ful). Terrestrial Heteroptera from bogs. Preserve in ethanol.

G.G.E. Scudder 18

30 Insects on snow Especially west-ern mountains

Chionea (Tipulidae), Boreus (Me-coptera), Capniidae (Plecoptera): preserve in 70% ethanol.

S. Cannings 19

31 Isoptera (termites) N. America incl. Mexico

Preserve in 75% ethanol; try to collect as many soldiers as pos-sible.

T.G. Myles 20

32 Leiodidae (=Lepto-diridae)

Northern forest and tundra areas; prairies and grasslands

Most easily collected by window traps or flight intercept traps; and car nets (Can. Ent. 124: 745, 1992) (collect into ethanol).

S.B. Peck 21

33 Lepidoptera (see also 10)

Arctic For revisionary work on the hol-arctic fauna

J.D. Lafontaine 1

34 Lepidoptera Manitoulin and surrounding islands

Records for use in monograph of the region. Information on old records from collections would be particularly welcome.

J.K. Morton 22

35 Lepidoptera Areas not previ-ously sampled in western Canada

Standard collecting methods N. Kondla 23

36 Lygaeidae Anywhere Material can be collected in ethanol.

G.G.E. Scudder 18

37 Mallophaga Anywhere Preserve specimens in 70% ethanol; host species is extreme-ly important.

T.D. Galloway 24

38 Microlepidoptera (excluding Pyrali-dae and Tortric-idae)

North America, esp. west in dry/arid habitats and prairies (CNC deficient in all western species)

Include collecting method and time of day collected. Kill with ammonia fumes. Field-pin; instruction leaflet and field kit available on request.

J.F. Landry 1


Vol. 22, No. 1 31

Material Requested

Areas of Interest


**

39 Milichiidae Anywhere Malaise traps are particularly productive; also any found in as-sociation with ant nests extreme-ly appreciated. Preserve in 70% ethanol.

J. Swann 25

40 Odonata (dragon-flies)

North America Include 2-3 word habitat de-scription. Adults preferably in envelopes or papered, prepared by immersing in acetone for 24 hours, then dried; larvae in 70% ethanoll.

R.A. Cannings 4

41 Opiliones (harvest-men)

Canada and adja-cent states

Preserve in 75% ethanol, es-pecially adults with notes on habitats.

R. Holmberg 26

42 Orthoptera Anywhere J-T. Yang 27

43 Parasitic Hyme-noptera

Anywhere Including selected unsorted Malaise, suction, pan or pitfall trap collections (pan trap kits and instructions supplied free on request).

L. Masner 1

44 Phoridae Anwhere; espe-cially boreal

Collect into 70% ethanol: espe-cially interested in Malaise trap samples from boreal forest.

B.V. Brown 28

45 Pipunculidae (big-headed flies)

Anywhere; espe-cially boreal

Adults can be pinned, pointed or preserved in ethanol.

E. Georgeson 29

46 Psyllidae North America Preferably preserve in glycerine or dried. Specimen records and host plant records

R. Foottit 1

47 Pteromalidae: Pachyneuron

North America Reared materials with associated sexes are particularly important, regardless how few in number.

G.A.P. Gibson 1

48 Salticidae (jumping spiders)

Canada Adult specimens preseved in 70% ethanol. Include habitat information, specific location of collection, collecting method.

D. Shorthouse

C. Buddle

30

31

49 Scelionid egg parasites of Or-thoptera

Anywhere Especially from Grylloidea; pre-serve in ethanol.

L. Masner 1

50 Sciomyzidae Anywhere Preferably pinned L. Knutson 32

51 Silphidae Canada Include habitat and trapping method. Malaise trap material welcome.

R. Lauff 33


Vol. 22, No. 1 31

Material Requested

Areas of Interest


**

52 Simuliidae (black flies)

North America, esp. western and northern species

Preserve larvae in Carnoy’s solution (1 glacial acetic acid: 3 absolute ethanol). Reared adults with associated pupal exuviae preferred. Instructions available on request.

D.C. Currie 25

53 Siphonaptera (fleas)

Anywhere Preserve specimens in 70% ethanol; host species is extreme-ly important

T. D. Galloway 24

54 Solpugida (sun spiders)

Canada Preserve in 75% ethanol, es-pecially adults with notes on habitat.

R. Holmberg 26

55 Sphaeroceridae Anywhere, esp. arctic or high elevations

Collect into ethanol. Acalyptrate fraction of trap samples wel-comed.

S.A. Marshall 34

56 Symphyta (saw-flies)

Boreal and arctic Canada

Larvae and adults collected by Malaise trap, sweeping, etc. (col-lect into 70% ethanol). Identify larval food plant as far as pos-sible.

H. Goulet 1

57 Tabanidae Canada Include habitat and trapping method. Malaise trap material welcome.

R. Lauff 33

58 Thysanoptera (thrips)

North America (Preserve in 70% ethanol). Specimen records, habitat, host plant records where applicable.

R. Foottit 1


Vol. 22, No. 1 33

Cooperation Offereda Identification of groups of interest in return for a

sample of duplicate specimens.Most but not all of entries in list above.

b Willing to sort material from certain residues, bulk samples, etc.

See entries 5, 13, 19, 43, 51, 55, 57 above

c Field kits or instructions available on request See especially entries 38, 43, 52 above

d Exchange of specimens Several requesters, including entries 7, 40, 53 above.

e Limited collecting in Coppermine area, N.W.T., if par-ticular material required.

A. Gunn (address 35 below).

f Caterpillars, larval sawflies, aphids and mites available on request from trapnests for solitary bees and wasps [and see Am. Bee. J. 2001, pp. 133–136, 441–444].

P. Hallett (address 36 below)

g Insect material from grassland and adjacent habitats at Onefour, Alberta, is available for examination.

D.L. Johnson (address 37 below)

List of Known Email Addressess(by requester name)

Barber, K.N. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [email protected]

Behan-Pelletier, V.M. . . . . . . . . . . . . . [email protected]

Bilyj, B.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [email protected]

Borkent, A. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [email protected]

Bright, D.E. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [email protected]

Brown, B.V.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [email protected]

Cannings, R. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [email protected]

Cannings, S. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [email protected]

Currie, D.C.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [email protected]


Vol. 22, No. 1 33

Foootit, R. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [email protected]

Francoeur, A.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [email protected]

Galloway, T.D. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [email protected]

Gibson, G.A.P. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [email protected]

Goulet, H. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [email protected]

Griffiths, G.C.D. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [email protected]

Gunn, A. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [email protected]

Hallet, P. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [email protected]

Hamilton, K.G.A. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [email protected]

Holmberg, R.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [email protected]

Johnson, D.L. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [email protected]

Kondla, N.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [email protected]

Knutson, L. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [email protected]

Lafontaine, J.D.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [email protected]

Landry, J.F. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [email protected]

Larson, D.J. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [email protected]

Lauff, R. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [email protected]

LeSage, L. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [email protected]

Lindquist, E.E. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [email protected]

Marshall, S.A. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [email protected]

Morgan, A. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [email protected]

Morton, J.K. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [email protected]

Myles, T.G. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [email protected]

Packer, L. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [email protected]

Peck, S.B. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [email protected]

Philip, K.W.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [email protected]

Prévost, Y.H. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [email protected]

Scudder, G.G.E. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [email protected]

Sharkey, M. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [email protected]

Shorthouse, D.P. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [email protected]

Shorthouse, J.D. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [email protected]

Smith, I.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [email protected]


Vol. 22, No. 1 35

Strongman, D. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [email protected]

Swann, J. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [email protected]

Tourneur, J.C. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [email protected]

Yang, J-T. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [email protected]

List of Addresses1. Eastern Cereal and Oilseed Research Centre, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, 960 Carling

Ave., Ottawa, ON K1A 0C6

2. 117 Collingwood Cove, 51551 Range Road 212A, Sherwood Park, AB T8G 1B2

3. Canadian Forest Service, 1219 Queen St. E., Sault Ste. Marie, ON P6A 5M7

4. Royal British Columbia Museum, P.O. Box 9815, Stn. Prov. Govt., Victoria, BC V8W 9W2

5. Department of Entomology, University of Kentucky, 5 - 225 Agricultural Science Center North, Lexington, KY 40546-0091, U.S.A.

6. 482 Montée de la Source, Cantley, QC J8V 3H9

7. University of Alaska, Institute of Arctic Biology, P.O. Box 757000, Fairbanks, AK 99775-7000 U.S.A.

8. 1171 Mallory Road, R1-S20-C43, Enderby, BC V0E 1V0

9. 12 Westroyal Road, Etobicoke, ON M9P 2C3

10. 3 Woodridge Drive, Guelph, ON N1E 3M2

11. Faculty of Forestry and the Forest Environment, 955 Oliver Rd. Lakehead University, Thunder Bay, ON P7B 5E1

12. Department of Biology, Laurentian University, Sudbury, ON P3E 2C6

13. Département des Sciences biologiques, Université du Québec à Montréal, C.P. 8888, Montréal, QC H3C 3P8

14. Department of Biology, York University, 4700 Keele Street, Downsview, ON M3J 1P3

15. Department of Biology, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John’s, NL A1B 3X9

16. Département des Sciences fondamentales, Université du Québec à Chicoutimi, 9555 boul. de l’Université, Chicoutimi, QC G7H 2B1


Vol. 22, No. 1 35

17. Department of Biology, St. Mary’s University, 923 Robie St., Halifax, NS B3H 3C3

18. Department of Zoology, University of British Columbia,Vancouver, BC V6T 1W5

19. 2650 Arbutus Road, Victoria, BC V8N 1W5

20. Faculty of Forestry,University of Toronto, 33 Willcocks, Toronto, ON M5S 3B3

21. Department of Biology, Carleton University, Ottawa, ON K1S 5B6

22. Department of Biology, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON N2L 3G1

23. Government of British Columbia, Ministry of Sustainable Resource Management, 845 Columbia Ave., Castlegar, BC V1N 1H3

24. Department of Entomology, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB R3T 2N2

25. Centre for Biodiversity and Conservation Biology, Royal Ontario Museum, 100 Queen’s Park, Toronto, ON M5S 2C6

26. Athabasca University, Centre for Science, Athabasca, AB T9S 3A3

27. Department of Entomology, National Chung-Hsing University, Taichung, 402 Taiwan

28. Entomology Section, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, 900 Exposition Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90007 U.S.A.

29. N.S. Department of Natural Resources, P.O. Box 130, Shubenacadie, NS B0N 2H0

30. Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G 2E9

31. Department of Natural Resource Sciences, McGill University, Macdonald Campus, 21,111 Lakeshore Road, Ste.Anne-de-Bellevue, QC H9X 3V9

32. Paluzzo Gioia Piazza Traniello, 8-Int. 26, 04024 Gaeta (LT), Italy

33. Department of Biology, St. Francis Xavier University, PO Box 5000 Antigonish, NS B2G 2W5

34. Department of Environmental Biology, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario N1G 2W1

35. Wildlife and Fisheries Division, Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development, Government of the Northwest Territories, Box 1320, Yellowknife, NT X1A 3S8

36. Department of Physiology and Zoology, University of Toronto, 144 Hendon Avenue, Willow-dale, ON M2M 1A7

37. Lethbridge Research Centre, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, PO Box 3000, Lethbridge, AB T1J 4B1


ArachnidaSolpugida...............................................54Opiliones ...............................................41Araneae Salticidae ..........................................48Acari ................................................... 1, f Hydracarina ........................................1

Insecta ................................................27, 30, gOdonata .................................................40Plecoptera ..............................................30Isoptera ..................................................31Dermaptera ............................................22Orthoptera........................................42, 49Mallophaga............................................37Hemiptera ..............................................29 Adelgidae........................................... 2 Aleyrodidae ....................................... 3 Aphididae....................................... 6, f Cercopidae........................................12 Cicadellidae ......................................17 Coccoidea .........................................18 Lygaeidae..........................................36 Psyllidae ...........................................46Thysanoptera .........................................58Coleoptera .............................................19 immatures .........................................19 Chrysomelidae..................................16 Curculionidae ...................................20 Dytiscidae.........................................24 Leiodidae ..........................................32 Silphidae...........................................51Mecoptera..............................................30Diptera Anthomyiidae .................................... 4

Anthomyzidae.................................... 5 Asilidae.............................................. 7 Ceratopogonidae...............................11 Chironomidae .............................14, 15 Milichiidae........................................39 Phoridae............................................44 Pipunculidae .....................................45 Sciomyzidae .....................................50 Simuliidae.........................................52 Sphaeroceridae .................................55 Tabanidae..........................................57 Tipulidae...........................................30Siphonaptera..........................................53Lepidoptera................ 10, 33, 34, 35, 38, fHymenoptera parasitic Hymenoptera.....8, 13, 25, 43, ....................................................47, 49 Aculeata ........................................9, 28 Apidae.................................................9 Braconidae..........................................8 Chalcidoidea...............................13, 47 Cynipidae..........................................21 Diprionidae.......................................23 Eupelmidae.................................13, 25 Formicidae........................................26 Halictidae..........................................28 Pteromalidae.....................................47 Scelionidae .......................................49 Symphyta................................ 23, 56, f

Fungi ..........................................................27

Index to Taxa (entry nos.)

Documents

NEWSLETTER OF THE BIOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA (TERRESTRIAL ... · 2 Newsletter of the Biological Survey of Canada (Terrestrial Arthropods) Vol. 22, No. 1 3 The 2002 joint annual meeting